Gadseel and Jose Quiñonez are among dozens of people who county prosecutors say were falsely labeled as gang members or associates by Officers Braxton Shaw, Michael Coblentz & Nicolas Martinez. All 3 are with the LAPD’s elite Metropolitan Division. latimes.com/california/sto…
When Gadseel asked why they had been stopped, @lapdmetro said they LOOKED like gang members and that they’d HEARD rumors he was carrying a weapon, he recalled. Eventually, his boss at the recycling plant came out and spoke with the officers. They let the brothers go.
According to a complaint filed by county prosecutors, Shaw, partnered with Martinez, filled out two field interview cards on July 30, 2018, that FALSELY LABELED a “Gadseel Q.” as an MS-13 gang member nicknamed “Squealer,” and a “Jose Q.” as an MS-13 gang member dubbed “Sneaks.”
Law enforcement agencies use these cards to track suspected gang members and associates. CalGang, a statewide clearinghouse of gang intelligence, drew on information from @LAPD cards
Gadseel and Jose said they didn’t know or even suspect they’d been identified as gang members until a reporter contacted them.
“When they have proof that someone did something, they have the right to arrest you or throw you in jail or investigate you,” Gadseel said in Spanish.
“When they have proof that someone did something, they have the right to arrest you or throw you in jail or investigate you,” Gadseel said in Spanish.
“But when there’s no proof, and they (@lapdmetro ) keep stopping you, or following you or watching you, waiting for you to fall, I don’t see a case there. They don’t have the right.”
The cards that @lapdmetro Officer Shaw filled out for the Quiñonez brothers are among 43 he is charged with FALSIFYING.
In April 2018, @lapdmetro officer Shaw wrote up a card for “Kivon W.,” whom he falsely described as a 77 Swans gang member known as “Dub Bird,” with a swan and 77 tattooed on his neck, the complaint said.
Kivon Williams said his tattoos of a dove and “10/17” on his neck, signifying the month and the day he met his girlfriend. Williams, like the Quiñonez brothers, said internal investigators from @LAPD came to his South LA home this year, interviewed him & photographed his tattoos.
Williams said he has heard nothing from the @LAPDHQ since. He doesn’t know whether he is still in a gang database or what, if anything, he should do to have his name cleared.
Gadseel Quiñonez doesn’t know whether he remains on an @LAPDHQ roster of alleged gang members and associates. “It never crossed my mind to join a gang,” he said. “No one wins that way.”
He came to Los Angeles 10 years ago and took a job at the recycling center where he still works today. He is a father to a 5-year-old boy and looks after his little brother, who works at the recycling plant too while completing high school.
@threadreaderapp please unroll @LisaO_SKINMETRO thread
